Brian Connelly powers Aeros past Heat

This is the full version of the game story that will be running in Friday’s Houston Chronicle:

The revolving-door nature of the AHL sees players coming and going all the time and no one knows this as well as the Aeros have this season with an abundance of NHL recalls and injuries. When you lose key components to your hockey club, you are going to need players to step up and that is what Brian Connelly did in the Aeros 4-1 win over the Abbotsford Heat in front of 6,339 at Toyota Center.

The Aeros lost puck-moving defenseman/power-play specialist Chay Genoway in a trade to the Washington Capitals on Thursday. The Aeros got their first-line center Mikael Granlund back from the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday after his 19-game stint with the big club.

With Genoway gone, another offensive-minded defenseman Connelly will be called upon to provide some scoring from the blue line. Connelly did just that with his first two-goal game since 2010, coincidentally against the Aeros. Connelly scored a power-play goal in the first off a bomb from the blue line that beat ex-Aero fan favorite Barry Brust through a screen.

Connelly continued his prowess on the power-play notching his second goal of the game pinching in and snapping home a perfect pass from Justin Fontaine to make it 2-0 Aeros in the second. Connelly saw increased ice time at his spot quarterbacking the power play.

“ I think I’m most comfortable there, I’ve played there most of my life,” Connelly said. “ Having skilled guys on our power play helps out since we are all making plays.”

Zack Phillips, another player the Aeros need depth scoring from, made it 3-0 converting on a pretty pass from Johan Larsson.

“ Zack is a key component for us, in that he’s gotten a lot of opportunities to score and they just haven’t gone in,” coach John Torchetti said. “ He should have 12 to 14 goals already and that means they are going to come now.”

Jake Dowell made it 4-0 with a slap shot that beat Brust through the arm. Darcy Kuemper was 14 seconds away from a shutout when he was beat by Mike Testwuide with 14 seconds left in the third.